Flexible integrated transport system for rural communities

Rural areas and communities in remote locations face a range of challenges associated with accessibility and mobility, which occur as a result of limited availability of transport services to basic amenities such as hospitals, shopping etc. These challenges impact on the rural population with huge implications on people with disabilities, children, older people, the mobility impaired, and the people who do not have access to personal car [7]. This paper describes a prototype flexible integrated transport system (FITS), which addresses some of these issues and help passengers to more easily access basic amenities such as health appointments. As part of this demonstration, we plan to explain three
different realistic scenarios built in the North-East part of rural Scotland: (a) considering passenger preferences and demonstrating selection of suitable transport service from a set of service providers; (b) effective integration of different modes of transport (e.g., FTS, Taxis and healthcare services); (c) handover scenario — passenger in rural area changes a mode of transport (i.e., using multiple transport services) to complete a trip (this is demonstrated with an
example of a healthcare appointment).